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Every Wednesday at 4 p.m. PST / 7 p.m. EST (and every once in a while at other times) TriplePundit will take 30 minutes or so to chat with an interesting leader in the sustainable business movement. These chats are broadcast on our Google+ channel and embedded via YouTube right here on 3p.

On Wednesday, February 12th, TriplePundit's Founder Nick Aster chatted with Jamie Gauthier, Executive Director of the Sustainable Business Network (SBN) of Greater Philadelphia.

SBN strives to support the creation of a sustainable economy where businesses are investors in the quality of life for all citizens - building profitable enterprises that serve community needs, share wealth and protect the environment. For the Greater Philadelphia region, SBN is an effective resource for locally-owned businesses that are committed to improving their environmental and social impacts as well as their profitability. The SBN is a national leader and serves as a model for other cities across the country, embracing the vision of the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE), the international coalition of sustainable business networks: "Within a generation, we envision a global system of human-scale, interconnected local economies that functions in harmony with local ecosystems, meets the basic needs of all people, supports just and democratic societies, and fosters joyful community life."

If you missed the conversation, you can watch it now on our YouTube channel, or catch it here:

About Jamie

Prior to joining SBN, she held the position of Program Officer with Philadelphia Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), and collaborated extensively with community based organizations on community economic development initiatives designed to bring new life to communities. This work provided Jamie with an in-depth view of how important small, locally-owned businesses are as sources of goods, services, jobs, and vitality for neighborhoods as well as the region more broadly. As such, she was extremely excited to join SBN and to lead the organization forward in its goals of improving the quality of life in communities, serving socially-conscious businesses and shaping our region’s economy into one that is more local, just, and sustainable.

As with her professional work, Jamie’s volunteer work has been dedicated towards the empowerment of individuals and the betterment of local communities. Jamie holds a Masters degree in City Planning from the University of Pennsylvania, and an undergraduate degree in Business Administration from Temple University. Prior to her career in community and economic development, she worked as an Accountant in the for-profit sector. Jamie is a resident of West Philadelphia, and is mother to two sons, Xavier, 9, and Nathaniel, 5.

By: Michael Kobori, Vice President of Sustainability at Levi Strauss & Co. 

As a company that’s been helping to pioneer on sustainability for most of our 160-year history, we’re excited to have the opportunity to share some of our learnings through this Sustainable Apparel Series in partnership with Triple Pundit and other brands. Throughout this series we hope to share lessons, provide actionable insights, and examples of progress that help us all to make progress toward a more sustainable planet.

I am often asked how I decide what to focus on within sustainability.

It’s a question everyone seems to have an opinion on. Leading environmental organizations are uniting to focus on what they consider the biggest challenge facing the planet: climate change. Governments can be subject to a revolving door of priorities due to changes in officeholders and public opinion. Companies often choose what they believe their consumers are most interested in.

For us at Levi Strauss & Co., the answer is very clear: We focus on our own biggest impacts and encourage others in the apparel industry to do the same.

Almost 25 years ago, we focused on the manufacturing process — becoming the first company to establish a supplier code of conduct that set health and safety, labor and environmental standards for our suppliers around the world. We followed that by creating the apparel industry’s first global effluent requirements for our factories and contract laundries around the world. Then we published one of the first restricted substances lists in the industry, setting a standard for chemical management.

These were all pioneering efforts, and they have led to industry-leading improvements for workers, the environment and our consumers.

But our real breakthrough in sustainability came in 2007, when we completed an environmental lifecycle assessment of two of our core products: Levi’s® 501® jeans and Dockers® Original Khakis.

The results of that study turned our thinking on its head. The greatest environmental impact isn’t during the manufacturing process, as we had thought and as many of us now know— it’s when the cotton is grown and when consumers launder our garments. All told, 49 percent of water use during the lifecycle of these products is during the cotton-growing process, and 45 percent is during consumer care. And when consumers wash then throw their pants in the dryer? That accounts for 58 percent of energy use and greenhouse gas emissions.

So, our assessment gave us two new focuses – raw materials and consumer use – both made more challenging by the fact that those parts of the product lifecycle are not under our direct control.

We immediately became involved in the Better Cotton Initiative with other leading brands such as IKEA, Marks & Spencer, H&M, NIKE and adidas as well as cotton growers, cotton suppliers and traders, and NGOs such as the World Wildlife Fund and Pesticide Action Network.  The Better Cotton Initiative is, in our view, the most holistic approach to achieving more sustainable cotton for the 300 million people involved in growing the crop globally. Better Cotton reduces water and chemical use in cotton, improves farmer profitability and educates farmers on human rights issues such as child labor. Our goal is to one day have all our products use Better Cotton.

Around the same time we launched the Care for the Planet initiative to engage and educate consumers about how they can make a difference during the parts of the lifecycle that are in their direct control – the laundering, care and reuse stages. Our message was simple: Wash your clothes in cold water and line dry them. And do it less often. If you wash your jeans once every two weeks instead of once a week, you can save approximately 399 liters of water in a year and reduce your climate change impact by about 32 percent.

With our lifecycle data as our guide, we have been able to focus on the highest impact areas and make serious progress towards reducing our impact on the planet. And although we may see our greatest returns by engaging the cotton industry and our consumers, we welcome the chance to partner with others when we see an opportunity to make a difference.

We’re looking forward to digging into the key sustainability issues of our time and exploring a vast array of topics as this series evolves.

Here’s to making a more sustainable world together.

By Susan McPherson and Laura Clise

With the Olympics underway, the world is watching as thousands of athletes from more than 80 countries compete in Sochi, Russia for the pinnacle of international sporting competition. Despite the understandable excitement and anticipation, the games have been somewhat tainted by Russia’s passage last summer of anti-gay legislation.

The controversy has been sustained by objections from athletes, activists, governments and citizens from around the world -- resulting in criticism of the Putin regime, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and corporate sponsors. As the world and public opinion continue to move toward equality, the implications present an evolving challenge for corporate sponsors to determine their responsibility and the appropriate course of action regarding the alignment of internal commitments to diversity with their role as Olympic sponsor.

As Sochi Olympic sponsors, Coca-Cola and McDonalds have experienced criticism over the past several months, as backlash against the anti-LGBT laws in Russia and frustration with the IOC have brought activists and consumers to their physical and cyber doorsteps. With citizen demonstrations, calls for product boycotts and hashtag hijacking, sponsors are put in the position to defend rather than celebrate their association with the Olympic Games.

Organized campaigns such as Principle 6 (launched by Athlete Ally, All Out and American Apparel) have given athletes, government representatives and citizens a platform for advocacy regarding LGBT equality ahead of and during the Olympics. Named after the anti-discrimination principle of the Olympic charter, the campaign allows supporters to express support for equality without running afoul of either Russian law or Rule 50 of the Olympic charter, which prohibits political speech at the games. The campaign includes nearly 100 Olympians and professional athletes, plus hundreds of thousands of citizens around the world who are speaking out in support of equality and non-discrimination in Russia.

While Principle 6 does not explicitly target corporate sponsors, it underscores the shifting tide of public opinion regarding LGBT equality. In light of this shift and the experience to date of existing Olympic sponsors, current sponsors of major international sporting events and brands in general would be well served to take note. Particularly, when aligned with a platform like the Olympics, brands need to determine how to take internal commitments to LGBT equality and diversity into consideration when operating and engaging on the international stage.

As discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation becomes no longer accepted, companies should recognize the continued shift in consumer values as an opportunity to affirm equality and non-discrimination across geographic boundaries. This is especially salient for sporting events. At its essence, sport is the domain where athletic competition should neutralize any bias or discrimination. The growth and reach of organizations like Athlete Ally reflect that support for LGBT equality in sports continues to grow. From advocates like Gold Medalists Megan Rapinoe, Caryn Davies and Seth Wescott, to Sochi-competitor Belle Brockoff, to former NFL players Wade Davis, Brendon Ayanbadejo and Chris Kluwe, LGBT athletes and allies are speaking out for equality and inclusion.

Last week, the CEOs of the Sochi Olympics sponsors received a letter from 40 LGBT and human rights advocacy organizations requesting that they raise their voices in opposition to Russia’s anti-LGBT laws and/or promote equality through available marketing channels. While none have taken a direct stand to date, telecommunications giant, AT&T has become the first U.S. company with Olympic ties to speak out, writing via its Consumer Blog:

"We support LGBT equality globally and we condemn violence, discrimination and harassment targeted against LGBT individuals everywhere. Russia’s law is harmful to LGBT individuals and families, and it’s harmful to a diverse society."

So far, only two sponsors—Chobani and DeVry University—have followed AT&T’s lead. Most recently, top NFL prospect, Michael Sam came out to the world as an openly gay man, putting him on the path to potentially becoming the first openly gay player in the league. While athletes, a few franchises and the NFL have articulated their support, through his courage and authenticity, Michael is undoubtedly entering uncharted territory. At the same time, assuming he is drafted, he presents an interesting opportunity for potential sponsors.

As the fight for LGBT equality continues, along with efforts to end homophobia and transphobia, the companies and brands that support sporting events, teams and athletes will need to decide where they stand. And as social media grows increasingly pervasive, the pressure placed on these companies to respond to the conversation will only continue to mount. While today, general statements regarding a corporate commitment to diversity may placate some critics, companies need to prepare for growing expectations that corporations join athletes, government leaders, and civil society organizations in unequivocally condemning discrimination against the LGBT community. Rather than a PR crisis, corporate sponsors should see this controversy as an opportunity to affirm their espoused values and take a bold stance on human rights.

Image credit:  [Rikki] Julius Reque, Flickr

Laura Clise is the Director of External Communications & Corporate Citizenship at AREVA and an Aspen Institute First Mover Fellow. She is a proud alumna of Carleton College and the Thunderbird School of Global Management, and serves on the Steering Committee for the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions Business Environmental Leadership Council and on the Net Impact Corporate Advisory Council.

Susan McPherson is a serial connector, passionate cause marketer, angel investor and corporate responsibility expert. Recently, she launched McPherson Strategies, a communications consultancy focusing on the intersection between brands and social good, providing storytelling, partnership creation and visibility to corporations, NGOs and social enterprises. She founded and hosts the bi-weekly #CSRChat on Twitter and serves on the boards of PVBLIC Foundation, Bpeace and Girl Rising.

We've all heard the saying that oil and water don't mix, but now it turns out that oil-free cars, namely EVs, and snow don't mix that well either. There have been many reports over the years that hybrids, like the Prius, don't do very well in the snow. The claims are hotly challenged by loyal Prius owners with the debate ranging from "this car is really junk in the snow," to "I have no issues with it in the snow," to "all Prius owners need in winter is a good set of winter tires."

Green Car Reports describes the issue in terms of how the traction control system operates.

The traction control sometimes works against the owner in icy conditions. The purpose of the system is to prevent wheel slip and loss of traction, but because electric motors provide maximum torque from 0 rpm, on slippery roads the wheels spin easily--whereupon the traction control promptly brakes the spinning wheel. The result, is halting acceleration with beeping from the skid alert.

Refinements in more recent models have improved the situation.

But alongside the debate about handling is the added question of fuel economy. Hybrids don't do as well in winter for reasons ranging from modified winter gasoline formulations, to increased stationary warm-up time, to increased heater usage, to reduced battery performance in cold weather.

A recent report in MIT Technology Review claims that the situation gets even worse when moving from hybrids to all-electrics. Both types of vehicles share the issue of battery capacity being reduced in cold weather. “Cold temperatures primarily affect how quickly the energy can be taken out of the battery or put back in—that is, how much power it can deliver for acceleration, and how quickly it can be recharged,” according to the article. Some manufacturers, like Nissan, put an electric heater beside the battery to maintain its internal temperature, but that's not without its cost. This heater will also drain the battery, reducing the car's effective range.

Then of course, there is the cabin heater. In “normal” internal combustion vehicles, excess heat is pulled from the engine and passed through a heat exchanger, providing essentially free heat to the cabin. In the case of an EV, there is no engine, and therefore an electric heater is often used to warm the cabin, which further drains the battery. Of course the electric motors do generate a small amount of heat, and in the case of the Tesla, this heat is used, in winter, to warm the battery.

The reduced rate at which the vehicle can be recharged also comes into play when the regenerative braking is deployed. Regenerative braking uses energy extracted from the vehicle's momentum to recharge the battery. This contributes to the vehicle's overall efficiency, reducing energy consumption by as much as 10 to 25 percent. But since the battery cannot recharge as quickly when it's cold, the regenerative braking will be less effective in winter as well.

The MIT article describes several measures that are being pursued to address the situation. Researchers at Canada's Dalhousie University are investigating ways to make battery chemistry less sensitive to temperature. In particular, they are looking at ways to improve the conductivity of the electrolyte. Decreasing electrode particle size can also help, though it could raise safety issues due to their high reactivity.

As for the heater issue, some cars already use electric seat heaters, which warm the passenger rather than the cabin, but they still require additional power. The Department of Energy is funding thermal storage research. One system that is being developed for Ford behaves like a heat pump -- that can be run in reverse for cooling, using water as the refrigerant. The system can be recharged using heat, which could potentially be derived from solar, or from the electricity provided when the car is charging. This could eliminate most of the “parasitic” losses associated with heating and cooling the car. Ford hopes to have it on the market in its Focus EV within two years.

So, before we pour too much cold water on the growing enthusiasm, or snow on the EV parade, particularly among those who live up North, we need to ask how serious these cold weather drawbacks actually are.

To put this into perspective, it might be worth considering the fact that the most popular country for EVs in the world is Norway, where the average winter temperature is -1 °F. Of course, generous government incentives certainly help to improve the popularity of the vehicles. The cars are not only exempt from high purchase and value-added tax rates, but their drivers also pay no road and ferry tolls or parking fees. They also cost less to insure, can be charged up using free electricity from thousands of points and are allowed to utilize bus lanes -- a major boon in crowded cities. Local governments also subsidize the installation of charging stations in homes. The perks are estimated to be worth more than $8,200 per car, per year. Yes, that's a lot of money, but if the performance was really that bad, do you think that the Tesla Model S would be the nation's best-selling car in September and December, while the Nissan Leaf was Norway's third best-selling car for the year?

Time will tell, and of course, as the EPA says, your mileage will vary.

Image courtesy of Nissan

RP Siegel, PE, is an inventor, consultant and author. He co-wrote the eco-thriller Vapor Trails, the first in a series covering the human side of various sustainability issues including energy, food, and water in an exciting and entertaining format. Now available on Kindle.

Follow RP Siegel on Twitter.

As solar photovoltaic technology sees greater efficiency and declining levelized costs, rivaling coal, demand for solar is rising and so are the jobs. Solar industry jobs are surging throughout the United States, according to the independent nonprofit research and educational organization the Solar Foundation (TSF). Record job growth in the industry over the last year is putting people to work in communities in every region, including some unexpected ones, depending on what one expects.

For example, in the Midwest, a place some folks might believe to be too cold and cloudy for solar, the industry has seen a doubling of solar jobs since TSF last reported its numbers. Heck, the solar panel I have on my garage in Michigan puts out more wattage than it’s rated for on a sunny winter day due to increased efficiency in colder weather. There’s enormous solar potential in the Midwest, rivaling Germany in the availability of good sun…yet Germany leads the world in solar investment.

Also, Georgia, Texas, North Carolina and Louisiana combined, which some folks may consider politically hostile to renewable energy, account for nearly a quarter of solar industry job creation nationwide. If it’s a good investment, and it is, practicality tends to speak louder than philosophy.

Better established markets like those in New England saw a jump of about 50 percent, while newer markets like the aforementioned Southern states and the Midwest have generally shown a 100 percent increase. And of course, as many would expect, California and Arizona -- very sunny places -- still lead the curve in terms of absolute solar jobs, with 47,223 in California and 8,558 in Arizona.

The Solar Foundation compiled its findings into an interactive map of solar jobs organized by state. So you can check out how many of your fellow statespeople are employed in the solar boom. Michigan boasts 2,700 men and women working in this green industry, helping the state diversify from its auto-dependent rut. Nearly 4,000 have solar jobs in Ohio; 1,500 in Indiana; and so on.

Installation is by far the largest source of the solar jobs, followed by manufacturing. Also included in the jobs figures are sales and distribution, project development, and of course policy and finance jobs.

This jobs report, however, comes out in the shadow of a growing trade dispute with China which could hamper future growth. China very recently slapped large tariffs on the nation's importation of U.S. made polysilicon -- the raw materials for solar cells. This jobs report should underscore how critical it is that the U.S. take an aggressive stance to nurture this growing industry, as it's on the upswing. Real jobs and future innovation leadership are at stake.

Also posing a potential adversary of the growing solar industry, utilities may seek to curb the use of rooftop solar installations via policy. The falling price of solar and the rising popularity in rooftop installations has become a bit of an issue for public utilities who have recently identified it as a "mortal threat" to the previous utility business model. The distributed power production model posed by rooftop solar runs counter to the centralized power production the utilities' business models tend to be based on.

Solar is becoming a large driver of jobs and could easily rise to become a dominant source of clean energy in the U.S. It's already well on its way. U.S. political and business leaders would serve their communities well to keep the momentum going.

Image Credit: Walmart Corporate: Source

Living in rural Fresno County these days means reading about the drought in the local newspaper every day, seeing reports about it on the local news and praying for rain. The Fresno area is smack dab in the middle of California’s fertile San Joaquin Valley. It is considered to be the “agriculture center of the world.” Valley farmers supply many of the nation’s fruit and vegetables. The Valley is also home to cotton, dairy and cattle ranches. As California enters its third year of drought, farmers are hit particularly hard. Lack of water means making tough decisions, and some farmers have to idle acres of land. Some ranchers have to sell off livestock. That will affect the economy of the Valley because farming is the area’s economy.

The drought will also have effects outside of the Valley and the state. Every American may soon see higher food prices at the grocery store. Paying more for food will be hard for many, as Americans are used to lower food prices.  A California Farm Water Coalition study found that Americans spend 6.2 percent less for groceries than other high-income countries. As a blog post by CFWC points out, "When water supplies are reduced, then less acres are planted and the economic theory of supply and demand takes over for the consumer’s pocketbook."
The current drought is a bad one. This is the third year of consecutive drought. This past January, the San Joaquin Valley experienced one of the driest and hottest Januarys on record. Normally, January is a cold month in the Valley when temperatures at night drop to freezing levels. Foggy mornings and nights are common. For most of this January, it was so warm that you could wear shorts and flip flops. We saw far too much of the sun. As of Feb. 6, Fresno’s total seasonal rainfall was 6.38 inches, which is 0.41 above normal, according to the Fresno Bee. However, Fresno’s rainfall for 2014 has only been 2.60 inches, which is 0.23 of an inch below average. If the rest of the rainy season, which lasts through May, bring less than average totals, the Valley will have experienced three of the driest years on record.

The drought is so serious that on Jan. 17, California Gov. Jerry Brown proclaimed a state of emergency because of it. The press release that announced the state of emergency proclamation stated that the state’s snowpack water content totals are 20 percent below the normal average for this time of year. The governor’s proclamation called for all Californians to reduce their water use by 20 percent. A few California towns, including one in the Valley, are instituting mandatory water restrictions.

Drought may become the new normal

This drought, this lack of rain in the Valley and snow in the mountains, might become the new normal. Two scientists, B. Lynn Ingram and Frances Malamud-Roam, recently released the results of their study -- which found that this type of drought we are now experiencing last occurred in 1580. The scientists made this determination by looking at tree ring patterns.

Climate change is probably playing a big role. When asked in an interview if what we’re experiencing is consistent with climate change projections for California, Ingram answered in the affirmative. Climatologist James Hansen, the one who has long warned about climate change and its effects, told Think Progress, “Increasingly intense droughts in California, all of the Southwest, and even into the Midwest have everything to do with human-made climate change."

Photo: I-5 Design & Manufacture

Though you'll continue to read that electric vehicles have been slow to catch on, the fact is, they are catching on, and they will continue to do so. Whether it be sales of pure electric vehicles, or plug-in hybrid vehicles, the growth of electrified vehicles is necessitating the build-out of public charging infrastructure in cities, workplaces and homes.

We are familiar with the tangible parts of such infrastructure -- the electric vehicles themselves, and the physical charging stations they plug into. But to make the whole system work, you need an information technology network to connect the hardware together and manage things such as payments and connectivity to the grid, and for charging site owners, the ability to manage the infrastructure deployed.

That's where companies like Greenlots come in; a San Francisco-based global provider of open standards-based technology solutions for electric vehicle networks. On Feb. 10, the company introduced its SKY Smart Charging system, which is designed to address the needs of the utilities and vehicle-to-grid (V2G) sectors. It's a pretty esoteric part of the EV world, so I'll attempt to explain how it fits together and why it's significant.

At the outset of the deployment of EV charging infrastructure, particularly in the U.S., manufacturers of the charging station hardware built chargers with proprietary communications systems -- the messaging which allows the chargers to talk to the network platform, or the so-called "back-office." All things being well, this is fine functionally, but there is a risk that if a company goes out of business -- as Ecotality and Better Place did -- perfectly operational charging stations are in danger of becoming "stranded assets." Since the hardware is using a proprietary communications language, if the "host" goes out of business, the chargers don't talk to anybody else and become essentially useless.

Though Greenlots doesn't make chargers, its SKY Smart Charging platform supports the Open Charge Point Protocol (OCPP) -- a popular open-source communication language between the hardware and the managing network system -- allowing any charging stations that use OCPP to be interoperable with the platform. OCPP is popular in Europe already and can benefit charging site operators equally in the U.S. This is because the open-source protocol allows site owners to switch networks, without having to replace the hardware. Plus, any hardware using OCPP is not at risk of becoming stranded as described above. While Greenlots was a founding member of the Open Charge Alliance, which supports OCPP, they are not unique in adopting it.

Where Greenlots is unique, however, is with respect to another important component of SKY Smart Charging -- that of managing "automated demand response" with utilities. Greenlots' system is the first and only EV charging platform provider to receive certification for the OpenADR 2.0b protocol -- again, an open-source protocol, which allows automated demand response (that's what the ADR part means) between the utilities and the charging infrastructure.

What is demand response? Simply put, demand response provides grid stabilization by averting major problems when electricity demand, at any given moment, exceeds supply -- thereby overloading the grid. Such circumstances can occur, for example, when air conditioner usage spikes in hot summer months at certain times of the day, and of course, as sales of EVs continue, clusters of EVs can cause similar demand spikes if everyone comes home from work and plugs in at the same time. Principally, demand response is managed by offering pricing differentials to customers -- that is, higher costs at peak demand times and lower costs at off-peak times.

If site owners opt-in, OpenADR offered via Greenlots' system is able to facilitate an "automatic load curtailment," based on setting parameters such as the amount of energy, the price of energy and the strain on the grid -- thereby minimizing the impact of EV charging on the grid. It also provides the added benefit of allowing site owners to enjoy reduced electricity rates.

As such, SKY Smart Charging principally benefits two entities in particular: Site owners who can avoid stranded assets along with the ability to control costs and utilities that, through OpenADR, are able to manage the grid optimally.

While Greenlots' system brings immediate benefits today, the system is forward-looking, too. Full implementation of V2G technology is a future state where energy transfer between the grid and EVs is "bi-directional." At times, EVs will store energy from the grid, and at other times they will put energy back into the grid. Brett Hauser, Greenlots' president told me: "Our platform is set up to be able to handle the capabilities of V2G, but there are no commercial applications today."

But Greenlots plans to be part of that future. "Logically, V2G follows up after demand response -- from curtailment in one direction...then V2G would be the bi-directional capability after that." In a rapidly evolving industry, "future proofing" is an important part of the game.

Image courtesy Of Greenlots

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A high level of unauthorised absence should ring alarm bells for retailers when assessing their suppliers as it can often indicate poor working conditions says new research from Responsible Trade Worldwide (RTW).

Rebecca Taylor, who led the research at RTW commented: “Ethical trade is currently firmly on the retail supply chain management agenda following the tragedy at the textile factory in Bangladesh.This in turn has led to an increase in demand for transparency and clarity into the working practices of the suppliers that produce consumer goods, and their journey through often convoluted global supply chains.

“Our research shows that it is critical that retailers know about operational standards from the perspective of workers across the supply chain and this requires a shift from a compliance-based approach to one which embraces greater engagement with suppliers and workers. Retailers need to get to grips with working hours, wages, company culture, environmental policies and community engagement activities of their trading partners. This will provide a more complete view of a supplier and in turn will highlight areas of risk, and inform the business case for change.”

For the full story read the March issue of Ethical Performance. Subscribe today!

 

Picture credit: © John Takai | Dreamstime.com

We are very pleased to announce the launch of a new article series - Sustainably Attired: Exploring the Lifecycle of Fashion.

Through this in-depth series, we'll spend the next four months exploring the environmental and social impact of fashion. We’ll take you through the lifecycle of fashion: from the design phase, through material procurement and product construction in a factory setting. We'll look at what it means for apparel to be "fair trade." We’ll also take a peek inside the consumer’s closet and look at how consumer demand influences the industry. Finally, we'll explore the leading second uses for worn-out garments and the future of the sustainable fashion movement as a whole.

This series comes to you with the support of lead sponsor Levi Strauss & Co., a company we've covered many times over the years for their decades of commitment to sustainable apparel. Levi Strauss & Co. takes multi-faceted approach to sustainability, highlighting consumer-focused initiatives like low-impact care tags as well as collections like Water<Less, Waste<Less and Wellthread that are as highly fashionable as they are sustainable.

The apparel manufacturer has also made headlines for their collaborative approach, working with organizations like the Better Cotton Initiative and the Sustainable Apparel Coalition to support the sustainability of the apparel industry as a whole. We're thrilled that they've decided to take the next step by supporting our editorial exploration of the topic.

In keeping with the spirit of collaboration, we've also brought in a number of other companies with sustainability baked into their business model, including: INDIGENOUS, Modavanti, Amour Vert, Appalatch, Dhana Ecokids, Threads4Thought, Mata Traders, OSMIUM, Redress Raleigh and Synergy Organics. Fair Trade USA, purveyors of the Fair Trade certification for apparel, has also offered their support. These organizations will be sharing their perspectives throughout the series.

There is no denying that sustainability in fashion is a meaty, complicated topic, with many competing priorities for brands that wish to produce sustainable fashion that consumers will want to wear. Through the course of the series, we’ll seek to unravel how brands decide where to focus and how they prioritize competing issues. We’ll examine the impact of their efforts on people and the planet, and we’ll take a look at the future of the industry. Check back here tomorrow for the first article in the series. If you miss an installment, you can catch them all here.

Image credit: Cleo Vermij/Unsplash

Citing a potential 40 percent gap between water resources and water needs by 2030, the U.K. based organization Carbon Trust has issued a new report highlighting water risk issues for business with the attention-getting pitch "adapt or die." Though somewhat alarming, the turn of phrase is timely here in the U.S., where the West Virginia chemical spill in the Elk River and the North Carolina coal ash spill in the Dan River have dramatically illustrated the consequences of lax regulation and fossil fuel dependency.

The report is also timely for U.S. businesses because a new Ceres report on fracking and water risks has turned up the heat on water resource issues.

Rather than dwelling on risks, though, the Carbon Trust report is all about solutions and opportunities, as you can gather by the title "Opportunities in a resource constrained world: How business is rising to the challenge."

The Carbon Trust report

The Carbon Trust report aims to make the case that investing in sustainability is a sound business decision, by profiling four companies that it has been working with: leading U.K. hospitality company Whitbread, communications company BT, public transportation specialist Stagecoach Group, and Bord Bia, the Irish Food Board.

One key common denominator among the four is fairly obvious: generating a footprint that enables businesses to find opportunities for improvement in their operations and supply chains.

What's really intriguing, though, is the report's discussion of factors that motivate a business to make the jump to action.

Key drivers for sustainability action

Carbon Trust identifies several motivating factors that come into play.

One is competitive differentiation, in which companies leverage their environmental credentials to strengthen and identify their brands. You can see the ripple effect of this in the wind power industry, for example, where consumer surveys indicate a preference for green-branded products in support of the WindMade initiative.

Relatedly, leadership is an important factor for companies that want to establish a high profile position in their industry, with a strong tilt toward building an ethical reputation.

Carbon Trust cites Chris George, Whitbread's chief of Energy and Environment, to underscore the point that carbon reduction is only part of the equation:

As consumers become more discerning it’s not enough to do the bare minimum when it comes to sustainability.... The consumer of 2014 is as likely to identify water, waste and depleting resources as carbon when talking about sustainability.

A comprehensive understanding of and engagement with all of these issues should therefore be a crucial part of any business’s core strategy ...

A third group consists of the direct cost, efficiency and value creation potential of investing in sustainability.

The importance of pioneering

In particular, the leadership factor brings up an interesting angle reflected in the Carbon Trust's four case studies.

As the Carbon Trust sees it, there is a great deal of untapped potential in convincing companies that sustainability investment can be a pioneering endeavor rather than simply a reaction to current events:

...the majority of businesses do not see sufficient value-at-risk or new business opportunities emerging from sustainability considerations to motivate real action. In the Carbon Trust’s own research only 5 percent of companies surveyed saw their response to sustainability as that of a global pioneer. By contrast 40 percent of companies saw their response to sustainability as reactive.

We'll venture a step beyond that and say that a pioneering spirit can only take you so far, as clearly illustrated by the growing pile of recent fossil fuel-related water disasters in the U.S.

In order to secure a long term, sustainable future, sustainability leaders in the business community will be compelled to fight for stronger protections for water resources than currently exist.

Image (cropped): Courtesy of the Carbon Trust.

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